It's easy to have sympathy for those who have been misled by Facebook's ever-morphing privacy controls. One should therefore have additional sympathy when the person led astray is a former director of Facebook and enjoys the name Zuckerberg.

Randi Zuckerberg thought she had posted a picture to be only seen by her friends. Suddenly, it was there for all to see. Yes, all. The world. The whole misanthropic, green-eyed human race.

As ReadWriteWeb's Dan Lyons icily fulminates, it seems that one of her sister's friends saw the picture, assumed it was for public viewing and -- because of its profoundly fascinating nature -- tweeted it down the Styx to public hell.

You'll be wondering about the picture. Well, it shows several members of the Zuckerberg family standing around the kitchen, staring into their cellphones and seeming astoundingly happy.

You might imagine that Randi Zuckerberg felt this was not the right message to be sending to the world.

Happy families at this time of year can be disturbing sights, encouraging onlookers to wonder what lurks beneath those open mouths and exposed teeth.

Yes, and do it publicly.
Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

People will wonder what gifts these people bought each other and why the boy with the very pale face and the hoodie is leaning smugly against the kitchen cabinets.

She is absolutely right that the standard of human decency should fly higher and more proudly than any handkerchief flag of privacy.

Facebook should immediately impose a code of conduct. Its one principle should be that of human decency.

Everyone on the site -- including Facebook's management and breast police -- should first consider the intentions of users before doing anything. It will be an excellent exercise of their human skills.

An indecent exposure, such as the one suffered by Randi Zuckerberg, should incur a fine of $20,000.

It's time the principles of decency were upheld fully and without prejudice on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Zuckerberg herself has referred to her critics as -- oh, I can't summarize this. Read for yourself what she tweeted: "Apparently, the topic of online etiquette elicits passion, debate, anger & Twitter crazies. Guess I just found the topic of my next TV show!"

About the author

Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world.
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